The long term goal of this research is to gather information which might be used to develop nonpharmacological alternatives for treatment of patients with petit mal epilepsy. The problem has been chosen in line with our interest in understanding the impairment in attention associated with the "absence" attack characteristic of petit mal epilepsy and the pathophysiology which underlies this impairment. To pursue this goal, we plan to study visual, auditory, and somatosensory evoked potentials in a group of patients in order to characterize the sensory effects of spike wave EEG activity. This information will be used to determine the feasibility of developing a prosthesis for assisting patients with petit mal epilepsy in aborting or terminating their spike-wave discharges. In addition, EEG and behavioral data will be examined to determine if there are reliable and detectable changes prior to the onset of spike-wave activity which would allow one, by utilization of feedback techniques, to alert the patient so that he may prevent the occurrence of the seizure. We believe that this line of research may be fruitful in establishing alternatives for treatment of patients with petit mal epilepsy for whom drug controls impose a particularly heavy burden in other areas of functioning, or for whom drug controls are ineffective.